Chapter 2649: Rain in South City Tonight 11

Jin Chen stood in place, rolling up his wrinkled cuffs, and raised an eyebrow at the ashen-faced Zhou Lei; on the ground lay the groaning bodyguards.

Zhou Lei looked at the man before him with a terrifying aura, and cold sweat instantly broke out.

Jin Chen: "There are many backups of the files."

"... No! No!" Zhou Lei immediately put on a fawning smile, his face-changing speed so fast it was astonishing.

He turned to Ren Xian: "Boss Ren, it's all a misunderstanding. Look, this person... is your employee, right? In that case, you just need to pay me the money you owe, calculated at normal interest! I'll leave right away; I don't want the club. Let's settle this, completely settle."

Ren Xian watched the scene before him with mixed feelings.

The trouble that had plagued him for two or three months, making him frazzled and even angry enough to be hospitalized, was easily resolved by Jin Chen.

As for Xie Shao, he had clearly promised last month to help him handle it, but kept pushing it off with the excuse of being busy with work.

He suppressed the bitterness in his heart and handed over the bank card he had prepared earlier to Zhou Lei.

Both parties destroyed the problematic contract in person.

Jin Chen stood to the side, lowering his gaze as he watched them complete the transaction, then suddenly reached out and slipped Zhou Lei's business card, which lay on the tea table, into his pocket.

Ren Xian didn't notice this small move, but Zhou Lei did.

He glanced at Jin Chen doubtfully; Jin Chen calmly met his gaze for a second, then looked away.

Zhou Lei could navigate the gray industry; his alertness was not low. Knowing this person was not to be provoked, he also pretended not to have seen, pocketed the card, and with the few bodyguards who had struggled up, left with a dirty face.

Only Jin Chen and Ren Xian remained in the room.

Jin Chen also took out a bank card, placed it on the tea table, and pushed it over with his fingertip.

Ren Xian froze, following the long fingers to Jin Chen's expressionless face. "What do you mean by this?"

"The money you borrowed from me back then, principal plus interest, should also be settled."

Ren Xian fell silent for a few seconds, then suddenly asked an apparently unrelated question: "Xie Linzhou... how much longer until he returns home?"

Jin Chen's lips curled into a mocking arc: "Five days. It's surprising you'd still ask about his affairs."

Ren Xian: "..."

Struck again by the same thorn, he could barely keep his composure: "You actually use this to stab me too? Do you think I wanted that? I had no choice back then, I..."

"You want to say you're not doing well either?" Jin Chen interrupted him. "Is it his fault?"

Ren Xian choked up, and after a while, he said weakly: "... No."

"But part of the suffering he endured indeed comes from you," Jin Chen said.

Ren Xian took a deep breath, as if trying to suppress the surging emotions.

"Jin Chen, you're right, but don't forget—you will also become his suffering."

"He will eventually know all the truth, no matter how you choose later or how you make amends."

He understood that Jin Chen might no longer follow the original plan to help Xie Shao deal with Xie Linzhou.

The initial approach was nothing but a scam.

Given Xie Linzhou's seemingly gentle but actually extremely insecure nature, and his utter intolerance of betrayal, he would absolutely not accept it.

Jin Chen looked at him: "This is between me and him; you don't need to worry about it."

He tapped the bank card again, then added: "Also, remember—don't ever think of using past matters to threaten me again; this is the last time."

Having said that, Jin Chen turned and prepared to leave.

Just as he picked up the coat hanging on the rack, his phone in the pocket rang.

Jin Chen naturally draped the coat over his arm and answered the call.

"Zhouzhou." He spoke, walking outward.

The cold hardness he showed when facing Ren Xian vanished instantly, his tone becoming a gentleness Ren Xian had never heard before.

Ren Xian lifted his head, watching Jin Chen's retreating back, and suddenly felt a bit dazed, thinking: No wonder Xie Linzhou fell so quickly.

Only after Jin Chen's figure disappeared outside the door did Ren Xian slowly withdraw his gaze, reach out, and pick up the card on the tea table.

He took a cigarette from the case, lit it, held it between his fingers, and watched the pale blue smoke rise.

Ren Xian's thoughts drifted somewhat.

Recalling the first time he met Jin Chen, back then he was even colder, more inscrutable, as if nothing could concern him.

Ren Xian exhaled a thin puff of smoke, and an inexplicable thought flashed through his mind.

He didn't know whether Xie Linzhou remembered, but he had actually met Jin Chen long before.

——

Five days passed in a flash amid their mutual, unspoken anticipation.

Xie Linzhou boarded the flight home.

Before turning off airplane mode on his phone, he already knew Jin Chen would come to the airport to pick him up. Calculating the time, there were less than fifteen hours left until they actually met.

The closer it got, the more his complex emotions surged.

He clearly knew that what awaited him ahead was very likely the longed-for happiness, but largely because he was always losing, his heart hung heavy, sinking downward; if he didn't get close, he wouldn't get hurt.

But waiting for him in South City was Jin Chen. Just thinking of that name, his anticipation always outweighed his unease.

Fifteen hours later, the flight landed at South City Airport.

In the team, only Ning Xuming had not returned temporarily; he needed to stay in Milan to follow up on the project's continuation, expected to return home only in winter.

If the plan remained unchanged, next spring the entire team might perhaps go to Milan again.

The colleagues who returned together all knew that their boss today had an important matter: meeting his legendary online lover in person.

After getting off the plane, everyone couldn't help but start teasing.

While waiting to claim his luggage, Xie Linzhou turned off airplane mode.

Ten minutes earlier, Jin Chen had sent him a message with a photo showing his location.

Jin Chen: "Zhouzhou, don't be afraid to come see me."

Xie Linzhou looked at those words; the nervousness in his heart, like bubbles seeing sunlight, dissipated one by one, and suddenly he felt great.

The group picked up their luggage and bustled toward the exit of the arrival hall. Fang Ming was still thinking about the boss's online romance turning into an offline meeting, glancing around while muttering.

"It's really strange; along the way I haven't seen any particularly striking handsome guys…… Boss, you didn't get catfished, did you……"

He hadn't finished speaking when the Xiang Wenqing beside him covered his mouth. "Look over there!"

Xiang Wenqing lowered his voice, gesturing for everyone to look toward the left corner.

A man in a camel-colored long coat stood there, tall and slender, holding a bunch of lisianthus in his arms. He slightly tilted his head, his full appearance unclear, but his calm demeanor was strikingly captivating—not like someone picking up a flight, but more like a movie star scouting a location.

Xie Linzhou recognized him at a glance—it was Jin Chen.

How strange. It turns out if the eyes are a viewfinder, in the vast sea of people they truly focus only on the person one likes.

When Xie Linzhou looked over, the surrounding noisy crowds and background blurred into fuzzy specks of light, leaving only Jin Chen standing in the halo.

At the same moment, Jin Chen seemed to sense something and turned around.

Their gazes met in midair.

Jin Chen's lips curled into a smile as he walked toward him.

"Holy shit…… he's really handsome." Fang Ming stared, his gaze darting back and forth between his own boss and the approaching man, then immediately exchanged looks with Xiang Wenqing and the others, sensibly preparing to slip away.

"Boss, my mom's waiting for me to go home for dinner, so we'll head out first—see you next time!"